(1997)

Mind's Eye - An installation for 3 projectors, 2 monitors & 4 video players.

"The mind's eye begins to see clearly, when the outer eyes grow dim."
Plato, Symposium

For me, Mind's Eye is about the relationship between looking and understanding. In this installation I am interested in particular notions of light- the interrelated 'light' of the eye and of the mind.

Physically, within the space of the installation, images of 'seeing' and 'understanding' are presented by imaging machines in various forms, and explicitly these machines are themselves productions of the human mind. Sited at the heart of the piece is a projected image of the brain, produced via a camera device which is itself an 'electronic eye' for looking into that organ which is the seat of human understanding. The two cameras on either side of the screen are 'eyes' too, but without the reason behind them that endows our eyes with their power. Making sense of the images formed by these electronic eyes is the task of the viewer.
The darkened space of the gallery is illuminated by various projected and back-lit images, which are in turn imaged by cameras or reflected back into the eye and mind of the viewer. The two projected eyes of Mind's Eye are blind- the images which are keyed into each iris do not signify 'looking' but reflection- the reflection of the active viewer. For us sight is about participation, as both looking and seeing require active thought. It is also important to see that the view that our technology gives us of ourselves is anything but objective:

"We need to soften the notion of ourselves as equipped with fixed vidiconlike eyes and static computerlike brains to produce the equivalent of consciousness." Arthur Zajonc, "Catching the Light"

The installation Mind's Eye grew out of my interest in developing a way of presenting images to represent flowing thought. I was inspired by an article in New Scientist ("Have the Mind Mappers Lost Their Way", May 4th, 1996) which reported on a controversy about the interpretation of results of fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and PET (Positron Emmission Tomography) experiments designed to map areas of the human brain. I was particularly interested to discover that these brain scan techniques relied on the detection of variations in the flow of oxygenated blood within the brain, and on the assumption that this was related to neural activity. An idea then developed from the notion that if I could have a series of brain scans produced whilst looking at a pre-determined visual stimulus, it would be possible to re-present the resultant brain scans and visual stimuli in synchronisation within the context of a gallery installation. It seemed to me that regardless of the problems of any scientific interpretation of these images, they were nevertheless images of flowing activity associated with the process of human thought. Within the context of fine art, these images were a representation of the interior of the brain- they show the record of flowing activity inside the head. I was particularly interested in the fact that the technology in question was also a product of the human mind, and had come about as a direct result of the self-reflexive properties of human consciousness. In this installation I am presenting the technology as an example of the subjective human mind looking at itself- literally a "mind's eye ".

The principle image in the installation is a representation of the human brain. In this particular case, it is an fMRI image of the artist's brain, but it is important to an understanding of the intentions of the work that the individual viewer recognises its' similarity to his/her own brain, and that the activity presented on the screen matches an identical process taking place within their own brain when looking at the stimulus on the video monitor.
The fMRI scans are images of the human mind looking at itself. The technology to present the images and the mind looking at the screen are both the product of human consciousness- the power of the brain to be aware of itself and to make sense of the body it is part of. But the brain activity mapped by the scan is not a record of consciousness- it is simply a representation of two aspects of visual perception- colour and motion. The human brain divides visual perception into a number of constituent parts, colour, form, motion, etc. and then miraculously recombines them in synch.

In my installation the "mind's eye" is not the machine that produces images of the brain, but the self-reflexive mind of the viewer who reflects on his/her own perception at the point of looking at the work. My work is at a significant level "participatory". Not only is the work something to be physically experienced by moving around the space, but the active mind connects the elements of the installation to what s/he brings to the work. In Mind's Eye I am attempting to make explicit that which was implicit in earlier installations such as Eau d'artifice, (1990) Streamline, (1991) and Vortex (1995). As with these earlier works, Mind's Eye is about "flow"- the flow of images, the flow of blood through the brain to the visual cortex (for that is what the fMRI process is in effect measuring) the flow of information, etc. Most importantly however, it is an attempt to make tangible the flow of perception and cognition, to make a link between the act of looking at a work of art and making sense of it, an interactive relationship between the body and the mind, between looking, thinking and emotional and physical experience.

June, 1997.